Age-related macular degeneration (ARMD) is a common cause of irreversible blindness in America, where millions of people over the age of 65 are suffering the effects of this condition. It is a slow progressive disease that affects the central area of the retina called the macula. This is the location of the retina responsible for central vision or the vision which gives us the greatest detail in our sight. Loss of central vision (or fogginess) occurs, straight lines may appear crooked, shapes seem blurry and faces distorted, but this rarely produces total blindness because the peripheral vision is not affected. Conventional western medicine has no effective treatment for this condition although they do offer medications and laser procedures, although these do not offer lasting effects. You may have heard about "good" cholesterol and "bad" cholesterol. In fact, there are four components of your lipid (fats) blood test panel: cholesterol, HDL, LDL and triglyceride. The value for total cholesterol is the combination of your HDL and your LDL cholesterol. The LDL, the "bad" cholesterol, transports to cardiac tissues and arteries in high amounts and promotes cholesterol accumulation in arterial walls. HDL, the "good," transports LDLs back to the liver and protects against heart disease and atherosclerosis. The ratio between the HDL and LDL for a healthy individual should at least be at 2 to 1. Recent studies have shown that simply lowering your cholesterol may not be enough to prevent serious heart disease. They show that even with low or normal cholesterol levels, you can be still at a high risk of heart attacks. In fact, half of all heart attacks take place in people with normal cholesterol levels! Do symptoms result from an imbalanced biological system? When they disappear is the system balanced? Is it wise to base healthcare merely on symptom management? Is true health more than being symptom-free? When there is shock or intense pain (either physical or emotional), the organism is pushed to its limit of tolerance. Often these sensations and feelings cannot be processed immediately. It takes time for the organism to regain equilibrium, and in the interim, the body actually blocks energy from flowing to the affected areas. This can result in the appearance of physical symptoms. So, sensitivity to the energy language of the body plays an important part in the deep understanding of symptoms, and is the beginning of truly harmonizing these subtle energies. Acupuncture is a way of gently restoring energetic harmony by communicating with the body in its own language.